Oh Happy Day!!

My title has absolutely nothing to do with my post, but it was the first thing that popped in my head. First of all, I couldn't be more excited about last nights American Idol finale, David Cook rocks, and I was so happy to finally see a true artist win. I am in no way denying that David Archuleta can sing, but enough with the same old same old, ya know. He will be fine, I am sure, but anymore, I don't like to listen to sad, slow music, which after his HORRID rendition of With You, is apparent, it is all he is good at, ya know what I mean?!! The only thing I worry about is the fact that they now own David C. , I just hope they don't try to turn him into something he isn't!! Second thing that makes it a happy day is the fact that tonight at 8pmEST is the Paper Pretties PJ party. I sooo look forward to these parties, they are so much fun and you get to chat with some super sweet and talented people. We sure hope you can join us, and we would love it if you would participate in our challenges! Charmaine does a wonderful job of hosting, and I have to say, I am in LOVE with my samples!! I stamped so much yesterday I thought my hand was gonna fall off!!LOL!! Also, yesterday while I was out feeding my DH's dogs(he has hunting dogs), I saw that the rose bush the lady that lived here before us had planted was in full bloom and GORGEOUS!! Here are some pictures of my favorite bush(there is a red and a yellow, but honestly, I don't think flowers get more gorgeous than this). The other flowers are my feeble attempt at gardening by my front steps( I say steps because I am still begging for the porch that I want). Aren't they beautiful!! I wish I had thought to take pictures of the tulip trees and the lilac bush I planted before they went out. OH well. Please, don't be impressed by anything you see here, I have a black thumb, and most of what is blooming in my yard has to be a hoax, or requires little to no maintenance!!LOL
Since all that up there is probably NOT why you are here, on to my card for today!! This is the card that I made for today's Ways to Use It challenge, to do a masculine card. I chose my trusty Noble Deer set and stamped it in Brown Stazon. I then colored it in with my SU markers, blended it with an aqua painter, highlighted the chest and tail with a white gel pen, and sponged the edges(of the whole card) with Creamy Caramel. The sketch is Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday sketch, and I love it because I got to use some DP scraps. The hardware is from the Aged Copper set, and the ribbon is Twill Tape, and some thin ribbon from one of the retired Rustic Retreat Ribbon Originals from SU.
That's all for me now! Thanks for stopping by and checking me out, I love it when you do!! Hugs!!
stamps-Noble Deer and All Holidays
ink-Brown Stazon
paper-Creamy Carmel, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, and Whisper White
tools-Aged Copper hardware, SU markers, twill tape and ribbon originals, aqua painter and white gel pen

Prettie Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!! Two weeks ago, Jules challenged the Prettie Girls to find something that we were inspired by, a blog, a website, a catalog, a piece of art . . . anything! Then make a card using that inspiration piece. I chose this gorgeous bedding from the JCPenney’s website. I loved the colors and the flowers on it. I also decided to combine this with the sketch challenge Danielle posted in the Pretties Challenge forum last week. Anyone can play along, and we really hope that you do!!I started with my Simply Special set from Paper Prettiesand stamped the image on watercolor paper, colored it with my SU markers, and cut it out using my oval nestabilities. I coved the whole watering can image with some crystal effects to make it shiny. To mimic the walls in my inspiration piece, I ran the Ruby Red layer through my Cuttlebug with the Distressed Stripes folder. The SU ticket corner punch was used on the corners and then I put some pewter brads in the notches. The DP is from the Close to Cocoa SU pack and the ribbon is some that I got through a ribbon share with Jody(texasjodylynn).
Last week Charmaine challenged us to make a bookmark and we would love it if you played along, just make sure to leave us a link!! This week it's Jana's turn to challenge! This card is actually on it’s way over to Jana as we speak, but as per my usual, it’s gonna be late!! One week, I swear my card will reach the person before it is time to post it, ya right!!Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

Don't forget, we are having a Prettie Pajama party on Thursday evening starting at 8pmEST in the Paper Pretties forum!! We can't wait to see you there!!
Stamps-Simply Special and All Holidays(SU)
Paper-Ruby Red, Close To Cocoa CS and DSP, and Watercolor paper
Ink-black stazon
Tools- Cuttlebug, Distressed Stripes folder, SU markers, aqua painter, crystal effects, satin ribbon, pewter brads, ticket corner punch, oval nestabilities.

Look Out World, Here I Come!!

Isn't that sentiment the cutest!! This is another set being released by Paper Pretties on Thursday night, and I am just in love with it!! It is called Look Out World and features this cute little guy and sentiment. I colored him in using my SU markers and ink pads and aqua painter. I stamped the oval below him using the Paper Pretties stamp set Sassy Circles. It is fabulous for grounding images! The sketch is from the SCS sketch challenge for tomorrow. Be sure to join us on Thursday night at our Prettie Pajama Party. Charmaine will be posting a challenge every hour for three hours in the Pajama Party Forum, starting at 8pmEST(7pmCST). It is a TON of fun, and a great chance to meet the other Prettie girls, and maybe win some free goodies!! Also, Christie is running a special that night, ANYONE WHO ORDERS PAPER PRETTIES' STAMPS DURING THE RELEASE PARTIE WILL RECEIVE A 25% COUPON FOR THEIR ENTIRE NEXT ORDER!!! I sure hope you will be able to join us!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!
stamps- Look Out World and Sassy Circles
paper-Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi CS and DSP, and Watercolor paper
ink-Wild Wasabi and Black Stazon
tools-spiral clips, ribbon, SU markers, aqua painter, dew drops

One of Those Days

This Thursday night(May 22nd), Paper Pretties will be releasing three new stamp sets!! The Prettie Pajama Party starts at 8EST(7CST) and will be hosted by the fabulous Charmaine(charmwarm). She will be posting a challenge every hour and there will be lots of fun, chatter and prizes!! Hope you will come join us at the Paper Pretties forum to stamp and chat!! Here is a peek at the new set One of Those Days, hilarious right!! I just love this image, and honestly, I think we can all relate!! One thing I love about this one, is you don't have to be the best color-er in the world to make it looks super cute. I can totally see this as a plain white egg, like I have left it here, or paper pieced with some DP to make it kinda funky!! For this card, I used the color challenge over on SCS. The colors are Certainly Celery, Blue Bayou and Soft Sky. I colored in the duck with my SU markers as well as the grass(no I didn't hand draw the grass blades, they are from one of my Whipper Snapper sets). The sky was sponged in. I stamped the image separately and popped it up with dimensionals. I used three different DP panels on this and added some brads and ribbon. What do you think? Hope you will be able to join us Thursday night, be sure to check out the other Prettie Girl blogs to see what they are up to!! Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!!
stamps-One of Those Days and Spring Has Sprung by Whipper Snapper
paper-Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Certainly Celery and Whisper White
ink- Black Stazon and Soft Sky
tools-ribbon, silver brads, sponge, markers

Double Pocket Purse

I decided to combine today's technique lovers challenge with the My Favorite Things sketch challenge. The TLC challenge was to make a double pocket purse following this tutorial. I started with a piece of DP from the SU Linen Prints pack. Following the tutorial I assembled my bag and used some wide Chocolate Grosgrain ribbon for the handle. The main image was made using my SU markers and the MFT set Punny Farm. I stamped the pig and girl on a separate piece of paper and colored them in with my SU markers and my aqua painter. I created my "scene" with my SU markers, aqua painter, and the grass stamp from the MFT Jungle Set. I added some primas with silver brads to the handles and the oval sentiment which was made using my oval nestabilities. I thought that it needed something, so I added a piece of cream taffeta around the middle of the card. I still think it needs something, but I do like it! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

stamps-Punny Farm and It's a Jungle Out There

paper-Linen Prints DSP, Cameo Coral, Close To Cocoa, and Old Olive

ink-Soft Sky and Black Stazon

tools-SU markers, silver brads, aqua painter, primas,chocolate grosgrain, slot punch, cream taffeta

Thanks

Okay, so here's the deal, I am so sick of bright colors I could just spew!! But, I still need to make Thank you cards, so here they are. I decided that I would use this weeks Featured Stampers challenge to design my card. This weeks FS is Dawn McVey(dawnsing) and she has a fabulous gallery and blog. Lucky for me, she had a card that looked a lot like the one in my head. Since I wanted the thank you cards to match all the decorations, I used the same paper, ribbon, colors and images that I used on the favors. I chose this card of Dawn's to CASE and decided to make it a full card, changed the colors and images, and added some DP. Everything on this is pretty easy to figure out, but for a little depth, I decided to cut out another lion head and pop it up!! I hope my sister likes it!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!
stamps-Wild About You and Posies For You by Whipper Snapper
paper-Only Orange, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White and Imagine That DP
ink- Only Orange
tools-orange Offray ribbon, scallop punch, circle punches

Inspiration and a Winner!!

I wanted to start this out by saying congrats to my fellow GSGer Dawn McVey! She is the featured stamper on SCS today(technically tomorrow)!! Woohoo, you go girl!! On that note, I hope this card fits into the Inspiration challenge for today. I looked at it last night and then today when I got home from the baby shower, I decided to relax myself I would stamp a little. I never thought to look at the challenge again, but I think this will work. If not, it is nothing abnormal for me since I always tend to stretch the inspirational boundaries anyway!!LOL !! My card was made using the Garden Silhouettes set, which I stamped once in navy Blue and then kept stamping until the ink no longer showed up. The rest is pretty easy, and I am super tired from all the baby shower stuff today, so that is all for me!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!

By the way, the winner of my Baby Shower Blog Candy is Deena(moonrise) with her guess of 68, which is amazingly RIGHT!! No one at the shower even got it right, but the girl that won guessed 67!! Thanks for playing and for all the well wishes, and I will let you know the progress of the baby! I would really like to do a card shower for my sister when she has him, so anyone who wants her address can send me an email or leave a comment with an email address so I can send you hers.

Thanks again!!

stamps-Garden Silhouettes and Sanded

paper- Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, and Whisper White

ink- Night of Navy

tools-ticket corner punch, silver brads, navy and blue organdy, silver cord

Thanks Jen and a Contest

I had decided a couple of days ago that I wanted to do some sort of a book for my sister's shower that could be passed around for addresses, but also used to write down the gifts that she received at the shower. While I was at Target, I picked up a plain, spiral bound, eco-friendly notebook, but really had no idea what to do with it. You have probably noticed by now that I don't really alter things very often. I love seeing other people do it, but I just never think to do it for myself. Well, I have a feeling I have dove off the deep end and there is no end in sight- I am having so much fun!! So why the title? Well, today's Limited Supplies challenge over on SCS was to make a card(of hopefully a project) using alphabet stamps as the main focus on the card. I was stumped about what to do when I realized that I had the Monogram J stamp from SU and I realized how perfect it would be on the front of that notebook. YAYYY!! The rest of his name is done with stamps too, and I have to say, it is the only full alphabet set that I own besides the Headline Alphabet from SU. I picked it up at Hobby Lobby when I was working on my cousin's wedding decorations and I love the way the letters are made to connect together. Cool huh!! It is a clear set by The Paper Studio. I stamped the Mono. J in Tempting Turquoise and the rest of his name in Only Orange. I punched out a bunch of stars using the same paper I used for my diaper cake and popped them up all over. I added a TON of ribbon to the coil. I forgot to say that I removed both the front and back cover and added DP to those then put them back on the coil. Thanks again Jen for the inspiration!!

Wanna see some more goodies, and maybe win some of your own? I thought so!! Here is a picture of the buckets that I got from Target. I covered the handles with a bunch of different ribbons and then attached some stars to the front of the pail. At the party, bundles of three balloons will be tied to each bucket and set all over the room. I made 12, I just hope it is enough!!LOL

These next projects are the favors that everyone will get to take home with them. I took a Mason Jar-jelly sized, and filled them 3/4 full with M&M's(do yourself a favor and buy the bulk bag-cheaper and resealable). I taped a piece of paper to the top and then wrapped the lid with wide grosgrain ribbon from SU. I then folded the extra part of the ribbon over the top of the lid to hide the edges of the paper. Next, I tied a ribbon around that-just in case you wonder, the ribbon came from Offray and I bought all of it at Wal-mart, except the solid color grosgrain on all the projects which is from SU. I then put a band around the jar. The animals are from the SU set Wild About You, and I stamped them, punched them out, layered them, and attached them to a scallop cirle of DP. I can't begin to tell you how much red line tape I have used on all of these projects, but it is shameful. I really want this to be special for my sister, I just hope she likes it all.

My last project is this super cute jar I got at Wal-mart in the home goods aisle. I filled it full of cotton balls for one of the games at the shower. I decorated it the same way I have everything else and even added little punched out stars to the bow at the top like I did on the cake. The idea of the game is to guess how many cotton balls are in the jar. How many do you think are in there? Just so you know, the person with the closest guess will get a super cute assortment of ribbon, some paper(the same patterns that are on my projects), and some other random goodies. If more than one person actually gets it right, I will pick between the correct entries. So, what's your guess? I will pick a winner after the shower tomorrow!! But now, I need to get back to work, 24 more favors to do!!YIKES!!

Inchies, Inchies Everywhere!!

Inchies are apparently a hot new thing in Stamping, but up until today, I had never done a card using one. Since I don’t technically own inchies(or for that matter know what they are), I improvised for today’s ways to use it challenge, and made my own 1x1in squares. I stamped my image from Oh, So Lovely in Black Stazon and used my aqua painter to add some Soft Sky to the flowers and Wild Wasabi to the stems. I then mounted them on black and popped them up on a panel of Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi and Black. The base of the card uses the same colors and the DP is from the DCWV All Dressed Up stack. I swear I am addicted to DCWV(probably because around here that is about the only thing I can get my hands on). The brads at the bottom are pewter, and the rub on at the top is from the Love and Happiness rubons that SU had as a Sellabration set. That’s all for now, I have more baby stuff to show, but I will take a picture later when it is all done. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!
Stamps-Oh, So Lovely
Paper-Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Basic Black, and DCWV
Ink- Black Stazon, Wild Wasabi, and Soft Sky
Tools-pewter brads, black organdy, aqua painter, silver cord, and rub ons

Cuteness Alert!!

Okay, I am warning you ahead of time, that I am SUPER PROUD of what I am about to share with you!! I usually don't gush over my own work, but seriously, this may be the cutest thing I ever made in my life!! As you all know, my sister is having a miracle baby due in July, and this weekend is her shower. For those of you not familiar with the story, my older sister Mary was told she would not be able to get pregnant because her tubes were 100% blocked. To make a long story short, she lost a bunch of weight, got pregnant on her own, and didn't know it until she felt him move!!(if you wanna read the whole story, go to this post). Well, while blurfing the other day, I stumbled upon this super cute creation by my pal Susan aka susiestampalot(who just won the My Favorite Things guest designer spot-btw)and I had to make one for my sister's shower. It is a diaper cake, how stinkin cute is that!! Susan quickly emailed me and gave me some pointers, but is working on getting a tutorial together to share on her blog. She knew I needed it soon, so she talked me through how she put hers together and boy was she a HUGE help!! Since I got the idea from her, and I wasn't smart enough to take pictures while making it, I am not going to go into detail, but if you have any questions before she gets her tutorial done, I will be happy to answer any questions you may have, just send me an email or leave a comment!! So after the "cake" was assembled, I wrapped bands of DP(by Imagine That) around the middle of each layer. I got my DP for this project at Wal-mart in the scrapbooking section(if you can call it that). It was a whole pack of paper in different size pads, some buttons, brads and some ribbon. The colors were perfect for a boy, and I loved the fun prints. I punched a TON of stars out of it and some coordinating SU card stock and placed them all over. Some of the stars have brads through the center with some ribbon attached, some just the brad, and some just the stars, just whatever you like. I also attached buttons with glue dots all around the paper strips. The letters are some die cuts I picked up a long time ago by EK Success, and are held together by silver brads with some ribbon tails at the top and bottom. I attached some of the small stars to each letter to give it some personality. The ruffle around the bottom is actually the stuff you buy on a spool to finish quilts, so it is already sewn together and ready to go(cool huh). The top is two different curly ribbons you buy at Wal-mart(or where ever you get yours at) twisted together. I thought they needed a little something, so I attached some stars with brads to the ribbon curls(something I need to remember in the future because it is super cute). I really tried to make mine as different from Susan's as possible, but I loved hers so much, that there are a lot of similarities. I loved how she had the name trailing down the side of hers, the paper bands, and the buttons, so I kept them. I want to thanks Susan so much for helping me out with this and allowing me to CASE her totally cute creation for my sister's special day. What do you think?? I WARNED you didn't I!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!